Defining Terms

Deal Clears Way For `Empty-nester' Homes In Lake Forest

Construction is getting under way on a Lake Forest housing development designed for "empty nesters," following a settlement reached between the developer and the City of Lake Forest.

In August, the City Council halted Carroll Homes' development and sent the matter back to its Building Review Board. Carroll Homes, based in Lake Forest, sued the city in November in Lake County Circuit Court to get a building permit.

The dispute boiled down to the definition of "empty nesters," which usually means older couples whose children have moved out. The city saw them strictly as that--older couples. The developer believed empty nesters could be younger.

Lake Forest had demanded that Carroll Homes put the master bedrooms on the first floors of its homes, which would be easier for the older couples the city foresaw living there, said Gary Welch, vice president of operations for Carroll Homes.

Carroll Homes' original proposal left open the number of homes that would have a second-floor master bedroom.

The settlement between the two sides allows Carroll Homes to put the master bedroom on the second floor in nine of the 34 single-family homes that it will build and on the first floor in the rest.

"It allows us to move forward and build," Welch said.

As part of the settlement, the city agreed to waive review fees, saving Carroll Homes about $10,000, Welch said.

Lake Forest City Manager Robert Kiely said the key issue was ensuring that the homes were meant for empty nesters.

What alarmed the city was that design plans submitted to the Building Review Board resembled plans for other housing being developed in Lake Forest by Carroll Homes, and the city knew those other projects were aimed at families, Kiely said.

Kiely said the city never expected all of the units to have master bedrooms on the first floor.

"What we needed to make sure is that this is a development geared toward empty nesters," Kiely said. "Basically, (Carroll Homes is) sticking to their original design plan . . . They are not looking to develop four-bedroom homes that could be marketed to young families."

In 1992, a city study determined that Lake Forest had a surplus of traditional, single-family houses on large lots, but it lacked simpler homes for empty nesters.

In 1995, the City Council granted Carroll Homes a special-use permit to subdivide its land as long as the homes would be targeted toward empty nesters.

"We have a plethora of homes for young families and we feel we need a more diverse housing stock," Kiely said.

Welch said he expects a model home to open by Labor Day, and the entire project should be done over the next three years.

The homes, ranging from 2,500 to 3,050 square feet, will cost about $500,000.

The project is on 86 acres in the Park Lane subdivision at Waukegan Road and Gage Lane at the city's northwest end. The developer donated an adjacent 26-acre plot to the city.